Unit 3: WWI and Civil Rights
Causes of WWI *Hobsbawm system of "power-blocs" (alliances) "competing national industrial economies" "Germany decided to give Austria full backing" decline of Ottoman Empire revolutions in Europe caused instability arms race *Fischer Germans wanted war *Tuchman "Germany established the image of bully in the public mind" German subs continuously sink US merchant and civilian ships "overthrow of the Czar...purified the Allied cause" Practices of WWI New weapons and technology created: -trench warfare -machine guns (changed frontier, soldiers moved west due to wide range) -flamethrowers -poison gas (very ineffective since it depended on wind) -planes (zepplin was effective because weapons couldn't reach high enough to shoot down) -tanks (useless, they were very slow) -submarines -torpedoes -bombs New Practices: -bombing civilians (especially in arms factory) -round-the-clock air raids Dogfights and tanks foreshadowed WWII? Effects of WWI About: 10m military dead, 7m civilians dead, 21m military wounded All of Germany's colonial territory transferred to other nations, much of German land is given to other nations, part of Germany is occupied by allies, Germany must be disarmed Multiple new countries from former German and Ottoman land League of Nations established 14 Points - principles Wilson's 14 Points were based on 6 key principles that should guild world politics, being: 1. No secret agreements 2. Freedom of the seas 3. Free trade, Open Door Policy 4. Disarmament 5-13. Self determination/Territorial adjustment 14. League of Nations Mandates AKA were colonies. Level A: almost ready for self-government, nations only there when they need help. Turkish Empire. Level B: Not ready for self-governing. Other countries can only help with public order + morals. Cannot intervene with religion/conscience. Cannot have own army. Central Africa. Level C: Not ready at all, depend of Europe. South West Africa + South Pacific Islands. Espionage Act "Was used to imprison Americans who spoke or wrote against the war" (Zinn) Passed in 1917, the act "prohibited any attempt to interfere with military operations, to support America's enemies during wartime, to promote insubordination in the military, or to interfere with military recruitment" (Wikipedia) Sedition Act Passed in 1918, the act made it a crime to "utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the armed forces it was the Alien act that was on the sheet US participation in the war Wilson told the public the U.S. was entering war because of German unrestricted submarine warfare, and that it was a fight to make the world safe for democracy Treat of Versailles - Change in historical opinion Initially it was thought that it was too harsh on Germans, later thought that it was the Allies fault for not properly enforcing some of the guildlines, leading to Hitler's rise and WWII Overall Impact of Post War European treaties The brutality and rashness of the Treaty of Versailles in particular in punishing Germany set the stage for people in Germany to accept Hitler's preaching as just. Also, the carving up of lands and adjusting territories, forcefully placed individuals in undesired positions and resulted in unrest as well as increased nationalism. League of Nations Wilson vs. US Senate on Treaty and League of Nations The US Senate refused to take part in the League of Nations, operating with an isolationism and believing the program was an unnecessary commitment to European affairs and is too limiting for American expansionism. At this time, America wanted complete control over its diplomacy and emerged as a "free agent" America. Zimmerman Telegram Proposal from Germany to Mexico asking for a Mexican attack on the US with the promise of land that was formerly Mexico's before the Mexican-American War being returned to Mexico. The telegram was intercepted by British intelligence and published in the American media, angering the public against Germany and a factor to the US delcaration of war against Germany. Nationalism role of the army was to create nationalism. Wilson tried to make US more nationalistic through the Alien+ Espionage act Nationalism was predominant in Europe at the start of the war, with celebrations and such going on at the beginning. Nationalism started out as an ideology of the left (nations uniting people, not ethnicities), later became one of the right. -Central Powers Involved Britain, France and Russia. Central powers were the German Empire, Austria-Hungry, and Ottoman Empire... Allied Powers Involved Germany and the Hapsburg Empire. Despite his claim to be neutral, the economic recession drew Wilson into the Allied Camp. Because the war disrupted the productive capacity of Europe, the demand for US industrial and agricultural products increased enormously and boosted trade with the Allies from $825 million in 1914 to $3.2 billion in 1916. Allies were GB, France, Russia, Japan, and US primarily. Russia's defeat from Japan earlier allowed for GB + Russia to ally, as it was a sign of Russian weakness for GB. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Peace treaty between Russia and the Central Powers signed on March 3, 1918. The withdrawl from the war was a major goal of the Bolshevik Revolution, and gave up land that consisted of 1/4 of Russia's population and industry to the Germany and the Ottoman Empire. This removal of Russia allowed Wilson to declare the War a "fight for democracy", being that the Czarist and now Socialist regime was no longer fighting alongside the Allies. **** "When Lenin took over Russia in October 1917, he was determined to end the war with Germany. However, the 'robber peace' that Russia was forced to sign was extremely harsh. Russia lost Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, the Ukraine, Georgia and Finland. These losses included 1/3 of Russia's farming land, a third of its population, two-thirds of its coal mines, and half of its industry. In addition, Russia had to pay an indemnity of fiive billion gold roubles" (That annoying IB packet reading thing titled "World War 1 and Total War" page 3 sidenote) American Socialists American Socialists were dissenters of the war and commonly struggling middle class tenant farmers and sharecroppers. Eugene Debs, for example, "portrayed the war as a crusade to defend the interests of a transatlantic elite" Durkheim Social anthropologist. Durkheim studied suicide cases among French aristocracy and described the concept of anomie. Anomie: disillusionment/demotivation/feeling of being lost when the rich industrialists replaced the aristocracy. The aristocracy now have less money than before (though still affluent), little political power, and mostly just an empty name. Nationalism solves anomie by providing a sense of belonging. Weltpolitik Focused on naval expansion and heavy colonial involvement, presented by Kaiser Wilhelm. It was essentially ineffective and was a crucial turning point in the road to WWI as Bismark, a strictly diplomatic leader, to Kaiser, an overly ambitious head case. The provocative system led other European powers to regard Germany as a danger to Europe's peace. Irreconcilables Isolationists, the concept of not giving in, the senators did not agree with the Treaty of Versailles (mainly they did not agree with Article 10 and Article 231) 231: It blames Germany for WWI and Germany accepts the fact that they started the aggression of the war. 10: It violates the constitution of the U.S. because only congress has the power to declare war. It states that if there is an aggression it can be crushed by the entire league for collective security of the league members. Armenian Genocide it is the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire by the Ottoman military. It occurred and the end of WWI and just after it Palmer Raids Attorney General Palmer led an organization to "arrest labor leaders, peace activists, socialists, communists, and alien dissenters." (Edge 120). This was caused by the Red Scare during the years immediately following WWI. Arrested many dissenters without charges and deported over 500 aliens during this time. CPI the Committee on Public Information, Wilson Hired George Creel to spread propaganda to spread support for the war, promoting patriotism. Big Number Game I think this is the game that we played in class where we chose a number between 1 and 1100 or whatever. The moral of the game was that no one was willing to compromise so that everyone could benefit, and that everyone, or at least the majority of people, would rather make very little progress than help out their neighbors. This simulation is basically what happened in WWI-- unwillingness to compromise, ultimately leading to everyone's downfall. Realism Political realm of thinking based on the idea that all people act inherently evil, lusting for power and domination. With this idea, it is thought that any regime acts in self-interest with no binding rules, and that the only true principle is the desire for complete sovereignty. Follows the zero-sum method of competition. Idealism Another realm of political thinking that assumes all people are essentially good. It states that "balance of power" alliances that put the weak countries against the poor are corrupt, and that it's better overall to split apart. Follows the idea of positive-sum competition. Zero-sum An idea of competition based on an idea that "my gain is your loss". It states that all growth in a state is relative to that of others it is in competition with, and leads to an arms race-esque mentality. ("win-lose" situation) Positive-sum Idea of competition focusing on absolute gains rather than relative. Positive-sum ignores the gains of competitors and focuses only on maximizing a state's own gains. This method leads to co-operation between states and eventual inter-dependence. MLK Believed that the way that there would be change for blacks would be through nonviolence. BTW Booker T. Washington "urged blacks to stay in the South, concentrate on working hard rather than agitating for their rights, and cultivate ‘friendly relations with the Southern white man.’” (2) He came up with the idea of "industrial education," which originated at Tuskegee University (which he founded). Basically, whites liked it because they thought it was training for unskilled labor and other menial jobs, but in reality it was training blacks to be teachers, lawyers, doctors, etc. This is one of the reasons BTW is considered a "trojan horse." "Industrial education did not train blacks to enter industry, but rather taught them to be industrious. To reinforce this character-building mission, both Hampton and Tuskgee subjected students to strict rules and military-style discipline.” (3) Booker T. Washington had a few enemies, and one of them was W.E.B. Du Bois. They had very different ideas as to how to go about increasing black socioeconomic status, and didn't get along, partly do to BTW's antagonization of his opposition, where he used his influence to make it hard for them to get jobs, etc. Garvey Du Bois Stokely Carmichael Established the notion of "black power" which was essentially an assertion of black pride. Was part of the Black Panthers (a militant black political party which aimed to end political dominance by whites) Malcolm X NAACP The NAACP was unique among the black leadership organizations because it was led mostly by whites. It aimed to enforce Constitutional rights that should apply to all American citizens including blacks by taking case after case to the courts. With aid from whites, the program was able to raise enough money for its litigation strategy. WEB Du Bois was the director of research and literature of the association. NOI Black religious movement lead from 1934-1975 by Elijah Muhammad, with Malcom X being a prominent minister during the latter half of the period. Practiced an exaggerated "traditional" family structure, and suggested a total resettlement of the black population in a separate state. The former along with Muhammad's talks with KKK members are the reasons that caused Malcom to grow disillisuioned with and argue against the ideas of the NOI, leading to his assassination. UNIA Founded by Marcus Garvey, the UNIA was led entirely by blacks, and focused mainly on promoting black pride. It sought to demolish the image of Africa as the "Dark Continent" in America, and inpire blacks to be pround of their heritage. It promoted the notion of the "Africa for all Africans", meaning all blacks will unite and create a separate empire away from the whites. The UNIA was also unique because it was the only exclusively black program to create a mass movement. SCLC Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Began with Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Dr. MLK was president from 1957 - 1968 SNCC Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committe Began with a group of students sitting in at a restaurant for being refused service. Tuskegee School established by Booker T. Washington that was run and attended exlusively by blacks. Taught mostly industrial educaiton so that blacks could work in the South's labor based economy, helping Washington's agenda of gaining the trust of whites so that blacks would eventually gain more rights. It also educated black teachers and was somewhat of a role model for black educational facilities in the South. Talented 10th Idea that small minority, or tenth, of the black population would become well educated and successful in order to be role models and inspriation for the rest of black society in America, eventually leading to universal progress for the black population. DuBois advocated this idea.